Earlier today Statistics New Zealand released a Commonwealth Games medal table based on population.

New Zealand, with a small population and relative affluence, always tends to fare well on these kinds of tables so we thought it would be interesting to look at which Commonwealth nations fared best at the Games based on current populations.

As expected, New Zealand is near the top with a total of 564 medals - about 126 for every million people - putting us in third place on the all-time per capita table.

That's well ahead of big brother rivals Australia on 90.24 and England with 34.36 medals per million people.

But every nation pales in comparison to the tiny Island nation of Nauru.

With a population of just under 10,000, Nauru has won an incredible 28 Commonwealth medals including 10 golds.

That's a medal for every 357 people, or 2800 medals for every (hypothetical) million.

To put it in perspective, if New Zealand won every single medal ever handed out a Commonwealth Games it would still only equate to about 1923 medals per million people.

Nauru have achieved their success by focusing on one sport - weightlifting - where all 28 of their medals have come from.

In fact they have only ever sent two non-weightlifters to the Games - runners Frederick Cannon in 1994 and Aneri Canon in 1998.

Nauru won their first medal in Auckland in 1990 and the 28 medals since have been shared between just eight weightlifters, three of which - Marcus Stephen, Reanna Solomon and Yukio Peter - have won gold.

Second on the medals per capita list is the tiny Norfolk Island - population 2000 - with one bronze medal to lawn bowler Carmer Anderson in 1994.

Next up is New Zealand, ahead of two more small nations - the Isle of Man and Guernsey in fourth and fifth.

But while we have bragging rights over the Aussies in sixth, they can point to a better gold medals per capita ratio.

Australia have won a staggering 804 Commonwealth golds at a rate of 34.88 per million people, compared to New Zealand's 130 at a rate of 29.15.